IMG Win Channel 4 Contract; Clare Balding Lead Presenter

Just been announced via Racing Post

IMG awarded Channel 4 Racing contract​

By Racingpost.com staff 11:59AM 13 AUG 2012


CHANNEL 4 has announced that it has awarded IMG Sports Media the four-year production contract for the corporation's exclusive horseracing coverage from January 2013.

As expected Clare Balding will join Channel 4 as lead presenter for the broadcaster's coverage, which will feature the John Smith's Grand National and Royal Ascot for the first time from next year.

The deal, which will be in operation from January until December 2016, runs alongside Channel 4's four-year media agreement with Racecourse Media Group. In addition, Channel 4 Racing sponsors, Dubai, have signed a new four-year extension deal until 2016.

More to follow
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Fantastic news. Balding, Francombe, Holt ect together. Great stuff

 

That’s Channel 4 Racing stuffed up then if they’ve appointed Ms Balding. Meanwhile, I can see the current mob being none to pleased at having a ‘new lead presenter’ brought in above them all. I just hope that no more of the ‘BBC brigade’ are set to accompany her, especially Persad and Parrott.

 

Hopefully Carson and Francombe will get the sack. Arrogant little bastards.

 

Hope she replaces Nick Luck, can't stand him.

 

Fantastic that Clare has got the job. She did a great job with the BBC and a superb job with the Olympics (even organised an event for volunteers but sadly I could not get there as security would only let those with certain accrediation in)

 

Why do you dislike Clare, Barney?

I find her extremely down to earth, knowledgable and connected with the audience. She's far superior to the vast majority of presenters out there, male or female.

 

Absolutely devastating blow to the sport, offers nothing in the way of original, relevant insight to the punter, her antics at Epsom were completely unprofessional and she is a jack of all trades, master of none. You could put up with her on bbc because it was a rare occurrence, being a non subscriber of Racing UK, I watch channel 4 alot and im absolutely gutted it will be the Clare Balding show now. I know alot of people dont particularly like Lord Snooty but his ability to do this particular job is second to none, Clare Baldings is cut from the same cloth, at least Nick dosent try to hide it. He has a very sound knowledge of the sport and form enabling him to offer original opinions and relevent talking points that are in the interest of the punter, and he can lead the show just as smoothly as Clare Balding, which makes it a no brainer. Im just scratching my head as to what the person who made this foolish decision was thinking, and I think it must have been the usual, trying to appeal to wider public, which is as pointless as it is insulting to real hardcore racing fans.

Racing will never be a mainstream sport, stop trying to cater to those who are not interested and concentrate on making the show as informative and insightful as possilbe for the people who actually follow racing. Great news for racing today could have been, Nick Luck will be heading up the new C4 team, and fashion will no longer be covered by a horse racing show.

They will lose some of the hardcore audience because of this decision 1.01 NAP

RacingUK rubbing their hands NB

 

I prefer Claire B to the Cat and Emma double act any day.She is very professiona

I just hope her and wee Willie Carsehole aren't a job lot!

I'd like to see more frock talk and fashion pieces and would be delighted if Jeff Banks could be shoehorned into the team.

 

Princess, I just find her terribly annoying, extremely smug and she seemingly has an enormously high opinion of herself (similar comments I would also apply to Nick Luck incidentally). I also don’t think she’s got the warmth, sense of humour or ‘common touch’ that other sports presenters have and compared to Des Lynam and old girl Sue Barker (others who have fronted the BBC’s ‘Grand National’ coverage in my lifetime) I believe Ms Balding is miles behind.

Its just a personal opinion but I also believe that on the BBC she has had it ridiculously easy (on the racing front in particular) for a very long time and has almost been broadcasting on auto-pilot for quite a while with her opinions rarely questioned or analysed. This almost certainly won’t be the case on Channel 4 where there style is much more confrontational and discussion amongst broadcasters much more encouraged. Maybe because of this though the move will actually be beneficial to her career.

I’m actually a big fan of 3 of the Channel’s main presenters and think old boy Cattermole, Alastair Down and Ems Spencer have done little wrong to merit any form of ‘demotion’. As I stated above it will be somewhat interesting to see how they and others in the ‘team’ react to this announcement.

 

Updated release:

CHANNEL 4 has announced that it has awarded IMG Sports Media the four-year production contract for the corporation's exclusive horseracing coverage from January 2013.

As expected Clare Balding will join Channel 4 as lead presenter for the broadcaster's coverage, which will feature the John Smith's Grand National and Royal Ascot for the first time from next year.

The deal, which will be in operation from January until December 2016, runs alongside Channel 4's four-year media agreement with Racecourse Media Group. In addition, Channel 4 Racing sponsors, Dubai, have signed a new four-year extension deal until 2016.

"A combination of familiar and new talent" is promised in front of the camera while behind the scenes, Carl Hicks, BBC sport senior programme editor, who edited the London 2012 Olympics, will join IMG as executive producer overseeing around 90 days a year of live terrestrial horseracing coverage in addition to the Morning Line.

Jamie Aitchison, Channel 4's sports editor, said: "After a rigorous and invaluable tender process, I am looking forward immensely to working with IMG Sports Media to deliver our vision for the sport.

"Their pitch was compelling and crucially contained deep racing expertise allied to innovative broadcasting proposals. The winning bid hails the arrival of a new era in broadcasting for the sport at a time when the industry is moving forwards with real momentum."

Of Balding, who was widely lauded for her presenting role on the BBC during the Olympics, Aitchison continued: "Clare's arrival is superb news for Channel 4 and the production team. Quite simply she is the sports broadcaster of her era and for her to be heading up our coverage across the year is extremely exciting."

Although she has shown herself more than capable of covering other sports, Balding is delighted that she has the opportunity to continue presenting horseracing.

She said: "I am absolutely thrilled that Channel 4 has asked me to be a part of their new racing team.

"Racing is my 'home' sport and I am delighted that I will still be part of its coverage on TV. I am excited by Channel 4's plans for their coverage and the way in which they have committed to expanding the profile of jockeys, trainers and horses.

"I look forward to working with IMG Sports Media who have a high quality reputation for sports programming."​

 

I agree that the key will be how she settles with "the team", but I suspect a number of the existing group will be for the chop anyway. My personal opinion is that she is an enthusiast who does her homework thoroughly (take note Gary Lineker). I've never met her, though I've met her parents several times, but everyone I know who has met her cannot sing her praises highly enough.


On other matters, interesting to see that they've managed to poach Carl Hicks from the BBC in light of his success with the red button Olympic coverage.

 

I think Nick Luck has his eye on possibilities outside racing. He said as much in a recent interview, he doesn't want to be defined as a "racing broadcaster". Whether that means he wants to do more sports, or branch out entirely into general tv presenting/news broadcasting, I don't know.

 

I'm not a Balding fan, always preferred the far more intelligent and knowledgeable Lydia Hislop anyway. Nick Luck is better than Balding, but he's not a lead man.

No one has ever stepped into the shoes of Peter O'Sullivan really. He did it all without fuss and you hardly ever needed to see him.

 

Sorry Bustino, but I couldn't disagree more about Lydia Hislop. She is an awful presenter. She frequently gets her facts wrong and her behaviour at Epsom when Horatio Nelson broke down (witnessed by my boss) was nothing short of appalling. Unsurprisingly it was shortly after this episode that she lost her place with the BBC.

 

They need a panel of Not606 folk on the job. We'd rip it up, I can tell ya'.

 

there certainly are going to be big changes from next year by the looks of things.
I would be surprised for example if John McCririck is retained which in a way would be a shame as he does have considerable knowledge of the sport. A shame too that John Francome will no longer be there - a big loss to the jump season coverage in particular.

And will Clare Balding be used on a weekly basis or just for the big events? I doubt that the BBC would want to lose her from some of their sports such as Wimbledon considering the impression she has made on the Olympics.

one thing that I do hope that is kept on channel 4 is the Morning Line - ok fair enough freshen it up but I do think that it is a good lead into the Saturday racing. I imagine that they will want to try out some new ideas too and it will be interesting to see what they come up with.